


A Moment To Hold Dear

by anindianchild



Category: Poldark (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 14:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6012760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anindianchild/pseuds/anindianchild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A pointless little one-shot about our favourite Poldarks. Ross being adorable with Julia and Demelza.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Moment To Hold Dear

**Author's Note:**

> All rights belong to Winston Graham and the creators of Poldark :)
> 
> So sorry for any mistakes!

Demelza Poldark ambled along the edge of the fields surrounding Nampara with Julia safely secured in her arms, her red work dress made soft waves around her in the gentle wind. Garrick followed close behind, easily getting distracted by the birds that returned to land to nibble at their catch. Both mother and child had woken up along with the early morning sunlight that had filtered through the windows, illuminating the house with a mesmerising glow. Ross followed soon after, with a content expression as he strode into the kitchen.

After breaking her fast with Ross and feeding Julia, Demelza had set out to replace the dehydrated and dying flowers that sat in her vases. The cold morning air had nipped at her skin when she left the house but she doubted Julia felt much of it for she was tightly wrapped in a fine shawl that Verity had brought for her on her last visit. Now the sun was almost directly above her head, taking the chill from the air; the warm rays were a welcome change from the gloomy atmosphere of the previous weeks. The basket in Demelza’s arms was filled to the brim with all sorts of wild flowers, and though it was light, holding both her baby and the basket was proving to be too difficult of a task. Just as she walked onto the path leading to the house, she set down the basket and slowly lowered Julia to the ground. Her chubby feet wobbled before finding the confidence to stand properly while holding onto her mother’s hands and Garrick bumped his nose against her back to give some support. There was plenty of bread leftover from the day before and Jinny was in the kitchen making them some soup, and so, free of worries, Demelza sat on the grass and watched the clouds go by and the birds circling in the air. Occasionally, when a cloud with a distinguishable shape flew over, she pointed it out to Julia and Julia would reply in a language only she could understand. 

After Demelza felt completely rested, she stood up and straightened her skirts. As she was picking up Julia, she heard the familiar sound of Ross coming home and turned around. He rode Darkie above a low ridge and his hair blew towards all corners of the Earth. Demelza beamed at her husband while he dismounted the horse and strode towards her. The closer he got, the more Julia began to wriggle in her mother’s arms. Upon reaching the spot where his wife and child stood, he extended his arms to Julia who immediately jumped into them. Ross pressed a quick kiss to Demelza’s lips before handing over Darkie’s reins to her.

“Have you been out here long?” Ross asked as he settled Julia into his arms.

“Yes, Ross. Julia and I ‘ave been out here all morning, ever since ye left. ‘aven’t we, my li’le one?” Demelza paused to rub her fingers over Julia’s plump cheek and then bent down to pick up her basket. “How did the meetin’ go?”

“A bit rocky. We shall fair well for now, for a few more weeks at least according to my estimates.”

Julia started squirming again in his arms and Ross bent down to pick up a dandelion to keep her entertained. He showed her how to blow on them to scatter the seeds and Julia let out a few gleeful chuckles as the small feathery structures floated around them. Garrick started barking and jumped to try and catch a few, although, his efforts were futile as the wind carried them away.

Seeing how it brought pleasure to Julia, Ross bent down to pick up more dandelions. With each one, she watched and giggled with mirth as the seeds were scattered all around them. She tried to disperse the seeds herself but found it difficult, as she was so busy laughing.

“Is that funny, my darling?” Ross asked Julia. In reply, she produced a wide grin displaying all the teeth she had managed to grow.

Ross brought Julia closer into the crook of his arm and tickled her. She threw her head back and laughed while trying to get away from her father’s teasing fingers. In her merriment, Julia accidently struck Ross on his face with her chubby fist and for a moment she looked startled. Ross chuckled while bringing her hand up close to his face and then lightly rubbing it against his stubble, once again causing Julia to carry on in her cheerful state.

Demelza watched her husband play with their child and for a moment she was so elated that she felt like crying. Her father had never played with her this way or with any of her brothers, predominantly because the only thing he cared about when he got home was going to sleep or beating her, drowned in liquor as he was most days. Demelza was in debt to Ross for many things. He had taken her in when no one really cared about her, given her a proper home, a status she was proud of, both as his wife and when she was just a servant and lastly, he gave her Julia. From the interactions that took place between in their home, Ross showed her all the things that took place in a loving family. One she had lost after her mother died. The delight which illuminated Ross’ face when he played with Julia often dazzled Demelza, just as it was doing so now.

She had always hated her religion, for it repeatedly told her to love her abusive father. This was something she could never truly do, and she didn't like how it made her feel awful, claiming that she was in the wrong. Recently, however, she felt a growing attraction to it for she knew it was in His scheme that she should be with Ross. On her long walks, Demelza sometimes said a few words of thanks towards the sky for the way her life had turned out, for the way the Ross had completely transformed it. She felt a few tears running down her cheeks and lagged behind a few seconds so that Ross wouldn’t notice as she wiped them away. When she looked up, however, Ross was watching her with a worried expression.

“Are you alright, my love?” Ross stopped walking and trailed his fingers down the side of her face.

Demelza nodded at his question and resumed walking before answering, “I’m just that glad and so, so content. Ye’ve given me riches beyond anythin’ I could’ve dreamed of. An’ I’m just so grateful to ye’.”

“I shall endeavour to make your lives filled to the brim with love and laughter, God knows you deserve it.” Ross first planted a kiss on Julia’s cotton covered head, then pulled Demelza close with his free arm and kissed her on her temple. When she looked up into his eyes again, his usual teasing look was back. “Besides, there are many unexplored methods through which I can please my young fiery haired temptress. So, you may, my dear, have many more things to be thankful for.” His smirked at her before looking towards Nampara again.

“Temptress! Ross, ye’ know as well as I do that it weren’t just me who wanted it, otherwise ye’ should not ‘ave done anythin’. You are equally to blame for what ‘appened.”

“Blame? Does that mean you regret what occurred? I’m very certain that only a few moments ago, you told me you were ‘glad and content’, is that not so, my darling?” He attempted do her accent and cringed when he sounded nothing like her.

In her left hand, she held Darkie reins and pulling on them might startle the horse. In her right, she held her basket of flowers she had laboured at picking all morning. His arms held Julia and she had no wish to alarm her even though her father needed a suitable punishment for his words. There was no way in which she could jostle him as she had done on the day of Mark’s wedding, she would simply have to wait till they were alone to show him how his comments affected her. For now, she batted her eyes at him and smiled sweetly.

He returned the smile, knowing exactly what she was planning in her head.

They were just outside the back entrance to the kitchen and Ross waited for Demelza to return after walking Darkie to the barn before asking, “Did you make something to eat before you left or will I have to wait?”

“We have a li’le bread from yesterday and Jinny came in today and is makin' us some soup.”

“That’s kind of her. Let’s eat quickly for I’m starved.”

All of them apart from Garrick entered the kitchen where Jinny stood and upon seeing them, curtseyed. Ross reached into his saddle bag which Demelza wore and pulled out a stuffed toy dog. Julia’s eyes lit up when she saw what her father had brought for her and reached for it with her little fingers. Ross held it high above her head, brought it close to her face but then took it away again before she could grab it. Demelza went away to put all the flowers while he finally relented, giving the toy to Julia and setting her down on the kitchen table for her to play with it. He sat down on one of the benches and laid his arms either side of Julia to keep her from crawling away. Jinny hurried around them, setting the table and serving the food.

Most of Ross’ visits to Truro ended up producing a stuffed animal of some sort and Demelza was always rounding them up from all corners of the house. Julia was only interested in them for so long but her doting father always brought a new one as she grew tired of each one he bought. The box beside Julia’s bed was overflowing with them.

This particular one that Ross held looked a little like Garrick and Demelza smiled to herself. Ross may not have liked her loyal companion when she was first brought to Nampara but often, she found Garrick with a stick following Ross as he worked on the fields. Ross would always throw it away for him to return and would smile at the mutt when he did so. On occasion, she would even see Ross unconsciously petting the dog as they passed each other.

Demelza was still smiling as she came back into the kitchen. Ross saw her expression and pulled her down onto the bench, wrapping an arm around her slender frame.

“I know what you’re thinking, Demelza. This doesn’t mean that I am suddenly in love with that filthy, shaggy haired host of crawlers but I am glad that he’s normally around. Especially when it is only you and Julia in the house.”

“I’m proud of ye’, Ross. It only took ye’ nearly four ‘ole years to admit that you liked my handsome li’le-”

“Handsome? From the way he looks most of the time, covered in mud, feathers plastered all his face from whichever bird he chooses to attack, I can’t say that I can agree with you, my dear.”

“Of course ‘e is. Well, whene’er I give him a bath ‘e is anyway.”

Garrick who was waiting at the entrance to the kitchen let out a short bark, in unison with his mistress on her comment. The Poldark pair laughed at their pet and prepared for an afternoon of many joyful moments with their daughter.

Later, under candlelight, Demelza showed Ross exactly how his teasing words had affected her, his ‘punishment’ carried on many hours into the night.

 


End file.
